MINSK. April 25 (Interfax-AVN) - The Belarussian Defense Ministry is about to begin scrapping worn-out and outdated armament in the near future.
"Before 2005, we will scrap 18,000 pieces of worn-out and outdated armament," Belarussian Deputy Defense Minister for Armament Major General Pyotr Rogozhevsky told Interfax-Military News Agency on Friday.
The armament includes 76-mm ZIS-3 antitank cannons that were used during World War II, Rogozhevsky said.
Over 1,000 ZIS-3 cannons that are operational but unable to combat modern tanks will be scrapped. "It is very expensive for the Defense Ministry to maintain and service them," Rogozhevsky noted.
The scrapping will also include several types of 50-year-old air defense cannons systems and several thousands of PPSh assault rifles that are kept at Belarussian armament storehouses.
According to Rogozhevsky, the ministry will simultaneously continue to implement the state program of scrapping time-expired ammo. The scrapping takes place at two industrial centers in the Gomel and Vitebsk regions. One of them destroys artillery shells while the other deals with aviation killers.
The centers are to destroy a total of over 50,000t of worn- out ammo, Rogozhevsky added.